171 - 180 of 659 results for:
all courses

ECON 1:Principles of Economics

The economic way of thinking and the functioning of a modern market economy. The behavior of consumers and firms. Markets for goods and inputs. Analysis of macroeconomic variables: output, employment, inflation, interest rate. Determination of long-run growth and short-term fluctuations. The role of government: regulation, monetary, and fiscal policy.

ECON 1V:Principles of Economics

The economic way of thinking and the functioning of a modern market economy. The behavior of consumers and firms. Markets for goods and inputs. Analysis of macroeconomic variables: output, employment, inflation, interest rate. Determination of long-run growth and short-term fluctuations. The role of government: regulation, monetary, and fiscal policy.

ECON 11N:Understanding the Welfare System

Welfare reform passed by the Federal Government in 1996 heralded a dramatic step in how our nation designs and operates its programs that support poor families. The centerpiece of this legislation known as 'devolution' transferred much responsibility for these programs to the states. States had their first opportunity since the 'war on poverty' of the 1960s to undertake radical changes in setting up their public assistance programs. Recently, many of the reforms instituted in the 1990s are being hotly debated and in some aspects reversed. What flexibility did the states receive under welfare reform, and what considerations are relevant in exercising this flexibility? What selections have states made, and how are their programs and those of the federal government likely to evolve in the future? This seminar will address these questions, exploring how reforms changed welfare and who has been affected by these changes. In addition to covering the patchwork of different programs that currently constitute America's social safety net, the seminar will also scrutinize the makeup and trends in government spending and how our nation defines poverty and eligibility for income support. Moreover, the discussion will illustrate the role that economics plays in assessing the effectiveness of anti-poverty programs and the consequences on families' behavior. Students will participate in a project in which they develop their own recommendations for devising a safety net for poor families in America.

ECON 17N:Energy, the Environment, and the Economy

Examines the intimate relationship between environmental quality and the production and consumption of energy. Assesses the economics efficiency and political economy implications of a number of current topics in energy and environmental economics. Topics include: the economic theory of exhaustible resources, Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) control (cap and trade mechanisms and carbon fees), GHG emissions offsets, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), the "smart" transmission grid for electricity, nuclear energy and nuclear waste, the real cost of renewable energy, natural gas and coal-fired electricity production, the global coal and natural gas markets, Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) and Low-Carbon Fuel Standards (LCFS), Energy Efficiency Investments and Demand Response, and Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS). For all topics, there will be reading to explain the economics and engineering behind the topic and class discussion to clarify and elaborate on this interaction.

ECON 24N:Social Choice & Market Design

The design of mechanisms for group decision making, addressing questions about how apartment mates should choose rooms and share the rent, how a government should select and pay its suppliers, how a town should elect a mayor, or how students and college ought to be matches to one another. The first three weeks include classic papers by two Nobel-prize winning scholars about matching students and about government procurement. We will ask questions such as: What are the provable properties of these mechanisms? Is it possible for individuals or groups to manipulate the mechanisms for their own advantage? The remaining weeks focus on group decisions that are guided by "voting" mechanisms, showing the inherent trade-offs and proving theorems about the incompatibility among some simple, desirable properties of mechanisms. The ideas treated in this class are being used today to design new mechanisms for voting, matching, auctions and other applications, based on an awareness of the formal properties that the mechanisms may have.

| UG Reqs: WAY-SI

ECON 25N:Public Policy and Personal Finance (PUBLPOL 55N)

The seminar will provide an introduction and discussion of the impact of public policy on personal finance. Voters regularly rate the economy as one of the most important factors shaping their political views and most of those opinions are focused on their individual bottom lines. In this course we will discuss the rationale for different public policies and how they affect personal financial situations. We will explore personal finance issues such as taxes, loans, charity, insurance, and pensions. Using the context of (hypothetical) personal finance positions, we will discuss the public policy implications of various proposals and how they affect different groups of people, for example: the implications of differential tax rates for different types of income, the promotion of home ownership in the U.S., and policies to care for our aging population. While economic policy will be the focus of much of the course, we will also examine some of the implications of social policies on personal finance as well. There will be weekly readings and several short policy-related writing assignments.

ECON 49:Managerial Economics

Intermediate microeconomics, with a focus on topics and methods of interest to future managers. Topics include market pricing and price discrimination, incentives, signaling, implicit collusion, decision making under uncertainty, auctions and basic game theory. Use of calculus and math-based analysis. Topics overlap considerably with
Econ 50 and
Econ 51. Aimed at Juniors and Seniors with non-Econ majors. Does not fulfill Econ major requirements. Economics majors should take
Econ 50 and
Econ 51.

ECON 50:Economic Analysis I

Individual consumer and firm behavior under perfect competition. The role of markets and prices in a decentralized economy. Monopoly in partial equilibrium. Economic tools developed from multivariable calculus using partial differentiation and techniques for constrained and unconstrained optimization. Prerequisites taken for letter grades:
Econ 1 or 1A or 1V, and
Math 51 or
CME 100 or
CME 100A. Must be taken for a Letter grade if majoring/minoring in Economics.